At present, no one among the world’s top PC manufacturers can fully support AMD’s new generation of Ryzen 4000U/H series APU mobile platforms like Lenovo. In addition to the thin and light laptops and the Legion series, even the ThinkPad brand, which focuses on business, has begun to use AMD mobile platforms.
In the ThinkPad brand, the X series has always focused on extreme lightness and portability, while the ThinkPad X13 is a laptop specifically for business travelers, with a thickness of only 16.9mm and a weight of only 1.3kg.
Before the ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition, there was also a ThinkPad X13 2020 model, which is equipped with Intel’s tenth-generation low-power Core processor. The shape and weight of the two laptops are almost identical, but the difference is not small.
Difference between Intel Edition and AMD Edition :
1. Processor: The Intel edition supports up to an i7-10510U processor with a 4-core 8-thread design, while the Ryzen edition uses the highest Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U processor, an 8-core 16-thread design, and overall performance is about 1.6 times that of the i7-10510U, and the performance of the Vega 7 GPU on the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U is also three times that of the UHD 630 on the i7-10510U.
2. LTE: Intel version supports 4G LTE, the Ryzen version does not have this function.
3. Screen: The Intel version has a brightness of 500nit, uses a privacy IPS panel, and has a 100% sRGB color gamut; the Ryzen version has a brightness of 300nit and also has a 100% sRGB color gamut.
In addition to the obvious differences in the above three points, in other respects, the ThinkPad X13 Ryzen version and the Intel version are almost exactly the same. For example, they have passed 12 US MIL-STD-810G military standard tests.
In addition, in terms of thickness and weight, it is exactly the same, with a net weight of 1.3kg and a thickness of 16.9mm. This is also due to the fact that the Intel version is not equipped with a separate video card.
But the most surprising thing is the price. The Intel version of 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD is priced at 8,989 yuan, while the Ryzen version of the same 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD configuration is now only priced at 5999 yuan. The difference between the two is nearly 3,000 yuan.
Specifications
| Screen | 13.3″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS 100% sRGB |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U |
| Video | Radeon Vega7 |
| Memory | 16GB DDR4 3200MHz |
| Storage | Samsung PM981a 512GB NVMe SSD |
| Connectivity | Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 |
| Ports | 3x USB Type-C, 1 x USB 3.1, HMDI, RJ45, 3.5mm |
| Battery | 48 Wh |
| OS | Windows 10 |
| Weight | 1.3 kg (net weight) |
| Extras | keyboard, Web webcam |
Appearance
ThinkPad X13 is a thin and light business laptop that integrates the traditional genes of the ThinkPad family. Its body is made of aluminum alloy.
There are 2 Type-C ports on the left side of the fuselage, of which the left one is a full-featured interface for charging, video output, and file transfer, and the right is a Type-C Thunderbolt 3 port that supports professional docking stations.
There is also an HDMI, a USB 3.1 Gen1, and a 3.5mm headset port.
There is a USB 3.1 Gen1 port on the right side of the fuselage, and there is a row of cooling air outlets in the middle.
The bottom is also very flat, except that some cooling grids are left in the corresponding fan position.
The laptop uses a 13.3-inch wide viewing angle display with a resolution of 1920*1080, a 100% sRGB color gamut, a brightness of 300nit, and a static contrast ratio of 1000:1.
ThinkPad X13 features a classic keyboard, and the typing feel is the best among thin and light laptops. The top of the cap adopts a central sinking design, and each arc has been carefully adjusted to perfectly fit the arc of the fingertip, allowing a better user experience. The keystroke is 1.8mm.
The privacy camera design allows the camera to be blocked by sliding the valve when the camera is not needed.
The laptop comes with a 65W Type-C power adapter. It also supports 15V/3A, 9V/2A, and 5V/2A output specifications, which can be used as a fast charge for mobile phones. The wire is very long, over 2 meters.
The cooling system has a single fan and dual heat pipe. The battery capacity is 48Wh; it uses a Samsung PM981a 512GB SSD and Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 wireless network card.
In addition, we can also see that all I/O ports are reinforced with aluminum alloy materials.
I/O interface close-up, the surface is covered with a layer of aluminum alloy for reinforcement.
Close-up of the cooling system.
performance test
1. CPU-Z
Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U has a single-thread score of 512 and a multi-threaded score of 4026.
2. wPrime
In the wPrime 32M single-threaded performance test, the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U took 30.6 seconds; the multi-threaded wPrime 1024M took 119.4 seconds.
3. CineBench R15
In the CineBench R15 test, the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U has a single-thread score of 185cb and a multi-threaded score of 1330cb.
4. CineBench R20
Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U has a single-thread score of 473cb and a multi-threaded score of 2992cb.
Screen and SSD performance
1. Screen
95% sRGB color gamut and 70% aRGB color gamut.
This 13.3-inch screen has a maximum brightness of 294nit, and at 25% brightness, the maximum contrast ratio is 39000:1, and at 75% or higher brightness, the contrast ratio is approximately 1100:1.
2. SSD performance
The ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition uses a PM981a 512GB SSD from Samsung. This is Samsung’s SSD product for the high-end OEM market. It uses the third-generation 64-layer stacked 3D V-NAND TLC particles, and a single chip can reach a capacity of 256GB. It also integrates 512MB LPDDR4 as a cache.
In AS SSD Benchmark, the total score of this PM981a 512GB is 3615, sequential read and write exceed 2500MB/s, 1200MB/s, 4K random read 49MB/s, random write 114MB/s.
In the CrystalDiskMark test, the sequential read and write speeds reached 3552MB/s and 2982MB/s, respectively.
3. Memory bandwidth test
The motherboard of ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition has integrated dual-channel 16GB Samsung DDR4 3200MHz memory; the voltage of the memory is 1.2V, and the timing is 24-22-22-52.
Using AIDA64 for the memory cache test, the read, write, and copy bandwidths were 36684MB/s, 35024MB/s, 30517MB/s, and the latency was 96.6ns.
Graphics performance
1. 3DMark
In the 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme test, the graphics score of the Vega7 graphics card of the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U was 971, the operating frequency of 1600MHz was maintained most of the time during the test, and the maximum temperature was 69 degrees.
Thanks to the dual-channel memory bonus, the graphics and gaming performance of the ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition is about 40% higher than that of the ThinkPad T14 Ryzen Edition, which is basically the same as the performance of the MX250.
Temperature and battery life
1. battery life
ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition has a built-in lithium battery with a capacity of 48Wh. We use PCMark8 to test battery life. The power mode is “longer battery life”, all other processes are closed during the test, the network connection is closed, and the screen brightness is adjusted to 50%.
The ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition has a battery life of 6 hours and 28 minutes in Work Accelerated mode. This score belongs to the mid-range level in the light and thin laptops.
2. CPU
Use AIDA64 FPU for temperature test, the room temperature is 28 ℃. during the test.
This is the state after AIDA64 FPU has been running for 51 minutes. The Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U has a full-core frequency of 2.6GHz, a temperature of 76.9 degrees, and a stable power consumption of 15W.
3. GPU
Use FurMark to test the Vega 7 GPU. The test lasted for 11 minutes. The power consumption of the GPU was 13W, the frequency was fluctuating around 1400MHz, and the temperature was 68 degrees.
Summary
When many of us buy laptops, they often judge the quality of the hardware based on the performance of the hardware and selectively ignore the workmanship and experience of the product.
The ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition is equipped with the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U processor, but due to ThinkPad’s conservative design considerations, the temperature is limited to below 80 degrees. At this temperature, the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U can reach a power consumption of 19W in a short period of time and can maintain a power consumption of 15W during long-term high-load operation. However, there is not much loss in performance. Compared with the ThinkPad T14 Ryzen Edition with the same processor, it is only 8% lower than the multi-core performance. It is still stronger than the 45W TDP Intel core i7-10750H processor.
The noise performance of the ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition is also very good, and it is difficult to feel the noise when running at full load. I believe everyone has used thin and light laptops. When running at full load, the entire body is hot, and the noise of the fan is also unbearable.
Since there is no separate SO-DIMM slot, the ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition is equipped with dual-channel 8/16/32GB DDR4 3200MHz memory at the factory. Users should consider their future use needs when purchasing. After all, they cannot install additional memory. I recommend that everyone buy the 16GB version.
With the support of dual-channel DDR4 3200MHz memory, the graphics performance of the ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition is also very strong, and the game performance is very close to the MX250.
Speaking of workmanship, all I/O boards of the ThinkPad X13 Ryzen Edition are reinforced with alloys, which are very strong; the layout of internal components is also neat and orderly, and there will be no messy cables like other laptops.